Lissy In Italy

Making Banana Bread

I decided to make banana bread the other day with Isabella. I had some bananas that were getting way too brown for my liking but thought they were perfect for bread.
Isabella liked helping as well... almost too well because I caught her eating it! Yucky!
Ok, so anyways, I thought I'd share this yummy recipe to those who wish to try it. It's my mom's recipe but I like to modify it a bit.

Danish Banana Bread
3/4 cup oil (I like to only use 1/4 cup and 1 extra banana)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups mashed bananas (usually works out to about 5 bananas - remmeber i like to add 1 more)
1 tsp vanilla
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I add a bit more and a bit of cinnamon as well)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups nuts chopped (almonds are a nice choice but here I decided to take advantage of the season and use Italian roasted chestnuts)
2 tsp baking sodadisolved in 2 tbsp hot water

Mix all your wet ingredients together including mashed bananas and baking soda mixture. Mix well. Now add all your dry ingredients.
Pour into 3 bread pans greased with butter and bake at 350 F for 45-60 minutes.
You may want to try adding mini chocolate chips to the mixture - it makes this bread even more delish!

Isabella helping me mix the ingredients.

Yummy bananas and castagna (Italian chestnuts)

This is what the chestnuts look like when you buy them... you need to roast them or you won't be able to get the shells off.

The mixture of all the ingredients minus the nuts.

And this is what the chestnuts look like after roasting... you need to cut them open just a tad or you'll be having chestnut fireworks in your kitchen. Just use a sharp knife to make a little slit in the shell on one side. We also have a special pan designed for roasting nuts. Oh yeah, remember to open the windows and turn on your fan so you don't smoke out the house. If you have a BBQ - even better!

And this is what we do while we are waiting...

And waiting... and waiting for the bread to finish baking....

And voila! Doesn't it look scrumptious? This stuff doesn't last long in our house! 2-3 days tops!!!